Saturday, June 29, 2013

Alien Encounters

“As one who was very much caught up in this new wave of thought, I am in a unique position to evaluate this unusual book. I believe this book by Chuck Missler and Mark Eastman may well prove to be the most significant book of our times. It could also prove to be the most critical book you have ever read personally. The conclusions the authors carefully develop may alter your own entire world-view in ways that may significantly affect your personal destiny.”[1]

By Sarah H. Leslie

Part 1: FLYING SAUCERS GO TO CHURCHAlien Encounters: The Secret Behind the UFO Phenomenon by Chuck Missler & Mark Eastman was published in 1997. At the time the book first came out it would not have been an easy task to review the book, check the facts presented, analyze the credentials of the experts who are cited, authenticate footnotes and delve into original sources. But one can do this now, and with quite a bit of ease, simply because of the vastness of the Internet.

This article series temporarily interrupts the previous series, The Rise of Endtime Occultism. It begins a comprehensive review of Alien Encounters, which is still widely cited, heavily marketed,[2] and even published online.[3] While Alien Encounters is not the first book on the topic of UFOs to be published in the Christian world,[4] it has become the most influential. Many of the Postmodern Prophecy Paradigm (PPP)[5] leaders have said that it was this book – Alien Encounters – that persuaded them to believe new things about the future. Thus it has served as a foundational book for teaching an emergent postmodern eschatology – an endtime scenario that now includes UFOs, space aliens and Nephilim.[6] Below are a few examples of the widespread influence of Alien Encounters.

In a roundtable discussion about Nephilim at the Prophecy Summit 2012 with L.A. Marzulli, Rob Skiba and Douglas Hamp, Derek Gilbert acknowledges the influence of Alien Encounters:

1:44: GILBERT: “I’m like our twelve-year-old Dachshund, I’ve got the gray on the muzzle on both sides. And to my right, the author of the Nephilim Trilogy, and I must say, along with Chuck Missler’s book Alien Encounters, one of the reasons that I am sitting in this chair tonight, um, also the books Politics, Prophecy, and the Supernatural; The Cosmic Chess Match, and now the Watchers series on DVD—which you here in the audience have seen out on the table outside, please welcome L.A. Marzulli. [audience applause][7]

Tom Horn, who propelled the new prophecy movement to “full steam ahead” by his vigorous online merchandising of the paranormal, has widely credited Alien Encounters. In his book Nephilim Stargates: the Year 2012, and the Return of the Watchers, Horn says that Missler and Eastman were the men who first asked the question: who or what was “mingling with the seed of men” in Daniel 2:43.[8] In this oft-cited question, Missler and his co-author Mark Eastman propose that a non-human species (or space aliens) mixed DNA with human beings. This same passage in Missler’s book is also cited by Terry James whose book The Departure: God’s Next Catastrophic Intervention into Earth’s History was published by Horn’s Defender Publishing.[9] Horn brings the quote up again in his book Apollyon Rising 2012 and the Return of the Watchers,[10] in his book Forbidden Gates: How Genetics, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Synthetic Biology, Nanotechnology, and Human Enhancement Herald the Dawn of Techno-Dimensional Spiritual Warfare,[11] and again in his book God’s Ghostbusters.[12] This Missler/Eastman quote, in the context of the other theories espoused in Alien Encounters, thus forms the central core and foundation of the new prophecy movement’s teachings.

Further underscoring the significance of Missler’s book, PPP teacher L.A. Marzulli, in the acknowledgements to his work Nephilim, states: “Chuck Missler has been a source of inspiration. Alien Encounters is a must read for anyone wanting an indepth study of the alien phenomena from a biblical perspective.”[13] Similarly, Doug Hamp, who wrote Corrupting the Image: Angels, Aliens and the Antichrist Revealed, discloses: “The various messages were first compiled by researcher Brad Myers who did much of the research for the bestselling book Alien Encounters by Drs. Chuck Missler and Mark Eastman.”[14] Others associated with this same group of prophecy leaders include Peter Goodgame[15] and Steve Quayle,[16] who both cite Missler’s book. Noah Hutchings, who was quite interested in sensational endtime speculations during his lifetime, in a book published by Horn’s Defender Publishing, also cited Missler’s Alien Encounters as an authoritative work on UFOs.[17] Note that most of these Postmodern Prophecy Paradigm (PPP) teachers have been enabled to spread their message via Tom Horn's various publishing endeavors.

A Note About this Review:
I determined to approach the book as an intently curious reader – analyzing its contents carefully, one chapter at a time, and openly considering its point of view. I was a novice regarding its subject matter, which seemed to be a good perspective from which to start.[18] I decided to do what any avidly interested reader would do—“google” the Internet to study more about the topics, look into the book’s citations, check out the resources, investigate the experts, locate the conferences, study the publications, and review the documentation. Any curious reader could do what I did, and that is the point of this review. In the process of researching this book, I realized that I was not quite so ignorant of the subject matter as I had first thought, and that my testimony intersects with this book at a number of points. Therefore, on occasion you will learn my own story. I am especially grateful for the helpful research assistance by other members of the Discernment Research Group, especially including Dr. Martin Erdmann, Susan Conway and Gaylene Goodroad.

What follows is an in-depth fact check, following along my research trail, on the subjects discussed in Chapter One of Alien Encounters.

“WHAT IN THE COSMOS IS GOING ON?” This is the title of Chapter One of Alien Encounters. The quotation at the front of this chapter boldly proclaims the topic to be discussed:

“A wave of unprecedented appearances of UFOs in the skies of Israel has stirred up UFO enthusiasts and several thousands of other people who have been witnesses to unforgettable sights. The mounting reports in recent weeks leave no room for doubt in the minds of many that UFOs have invaded Planet Earth!”[19]

This fascinating quote is attributed to “Israeli Journalist Iris Almagor, March 1997.” There is no further citation. It appears that Missler’s use of this quote has been published on the Internet on a variety of UFO sites, and it has even taken on Urban Legend status.[20] This was the first of many examples of Alien Encounters research becoming a self-replicating source of documentation, widely re-posted on the Internet. I would quickly learn that Alien Encounters has become very popular as a source of UFO information, and it is frequently quoted or cited on UFO lore websites.

Chapter One is all about UFOs, “unidentified flying objects” or “flying saucers.” I was immediately struck by the strangeness of the subject matter. Why is this unusual topic important to Christians? The answer cannot be found in the first chapter. One of Missler’s first citations is a NASA report, “NASA Scientists Find Evidence of Life on Mars.”[21] Missler acknowledges that there was “considerable doubt regarding the evidence,” but then he made a disparaging remark that “cynics snickered.”[22] Since life on Mars has been the topic of hot scholarly scientific debate for decades, this didn’t seem to be a fair characterization of those who don’t necessarily agree. As I continued reading, I became aware that this type of disparaging remark could be found throughout the book. So, cynics beware!

I was interested to read Missler’s perspective on UFOs. As an eminent evangelical teacher, I presumed that he would take a cautious approach on the subject, maintaining a biblical focus and relying on scholarly science. I was therefore quite shocked when I researched the next section where Missler discusses UFO appearances over Mexico City in 1993. Missler cites a 1994 article by Brit Elders in Connecting Link magazine.[23] I wanted to learn what Connecting Link magazine was all about since I’d never heard of it, so I googled it. I discovered that it was a New Age magazine which focused on UFO topics. I was so amazed that Missler used this magazine as a credible source that I even purchased an old copy of it from a used bookseller online. The exhibits in this post come from advertisements and articles published in Issue 21 of Connecting Link published in 1993, and the cover at the top of this post is from Issue 23 in 1994.

Some of the history of Connecting Link magazine is recorded in the “Acknowledgements and Foreword” of an online book Bringers of the Dawn: Teachings from the Pleiadians (1992) by Barbara Marciniak, “a student of Metaphysics.”[24] In the Foreword, Tera Thomas explains that this magazine's purpose was to more widely distribute the channeled transmissions she and others were getting from space aliens:

When Barbara Marciniak and I met in 1988, we had both just begun an exciting new phase of our lives: I had moved to Michigan to birth a new magazine, Connecting Link, with publishers Barrie and Susie Konicov, and Barbara was birthing the Pleiadian channelings…. The year 1990, the beginning of the "unnamed decade," came. Connecting Link was getting well established, and Barbara had made some three hundred tapes with the Pleiadians. [25]

Even more curious about this strange magazine, I discovered that Yvonne Cole, a New Age channeller for a purported space alien(s) called “Ashtar,”[26] wrote an article for Connecting Link in 1994:

One individual, named Yvonne Cole, who claimed to be channeling Ashtar messages from 1986, predicted the destruction of all Earth civilizations and the arrival on the planet of various alien cultures in 1994. Cole claimed that governments were working with extraterrestrials to prepare for contact.[27]

At this point, wanting to give the benefit of the doubt, I assumed these strange citations by Missler were just an anomaly. But then I found a Connecting Link article, “Conversation With The Pleiadians,” which purports to be a transcription of an actual channeled Pleadian transmission[28] to earth via Barbara Marciniak.[29] The channeled messages are about teaching humans change their belief systems, expand their mind, cultivate “energies,” develop an “aura,” tap into the “Universal Mind,” and find their “Higher Selves.”[30] This is very obviously New Age! Why would Missler quote from this?

Who are the Pleiadians? They apparently channeled their own bio:

THE SOURCE: The Pleiadians are a collective of extraterrestrials from the star system the Pleiades. The Pleiadian culture is ancient and was "seeded" from another universe of love long before Earth was created…. The Pleiadians are now here as ambassadors from another universe to help Earth through her difficult transition from the third dimension to the fourth dimension and to assist each of us in our personal endeavors of awakening, remembering and knowing.[31]

Curiously, the title of this transcribed channeled Pleiadian tape is “What Is Going On,” which is reminiscent of Missler’s chapter one title, “What in the Cosmos is Going On?” As I kept reading I discovered that Missler refers to the Pleiadians later in his book, including the channeled communications via Barbara Marciniak.[32] The point in mentioning all of this is that Missler cites this magazine four times as though it is a credible source of UFO information. Since when are any “channeled” transmissions reliable and honest sources of credible information? The New Age content was very evident! I kept hoping to see Missler issue some sort of disclaimer, a warning to believers,[33] or even a rebuttal, but it didn’t happen. So I kept reading, hoping that this was just an accidental or one-time oversight.

An advertisement in Connecting Link magazine, Issue 21, 1993, p. 85

Still talking about the Mexico City UFOs, Missler references “Voyagers of the Sixth Sun, produced by Genesis III.”[34] This incomplete citation was curious so I researched and discovered that it was a reference to a video produced by brothers Brit and Lee Elders. (Brit Elders had also been the author of that Connecting Link article cited four times in the first chapter.) I learned that these Elders brothers have a less-than-stellar reputation as researchers. One critic harshly noted that they were not a reliable source of factual scientific information regarding the Mexico City phenomena:

Despite a wealth of evidence that Venus was the likely culprit in many of these videos, the Elders went out of their way to create a story that describes alien visitation. The mixing and matching of Mayan and Aztec myths and then trying to make some form of prediction made by the Maya is another case of the Elders trying to deceive the viewers of real facts. The Mexico City eclipse UFO story is nothing but a new age myth generated by a couple of con-artists, who rely on the viewer to be uninformed and willing to believe the most ridiculous claims.[35]

Missler next refers to UFOs seen over Israel in 1996. He quotes from a “British Journal UFO Reality”[36] as an authoritative source. A online search revealed that “Issue 6” cited by Missler was titled “The Big Invasion,” referring to space aliens. Other issues of this periodical talk about strange UFO events with such titles as “UK UFO Crash,” “The 19th Parallel,” UFO’s Over New York,” “Chinese Pyramics,” and “Crop Circle Special.”[37] This did not sound like a credible periodical. Missler also cites Barry Chamish who during the 1990s was a leading UFO researcher in Israel.[38] Footnote 19 refers to a Cleveland Plain Dealer newspaper account, although no article title is provided in the footnote. However I did locate it online.[39]

I began to notice a pattern developing. Many of the footnotes and other references in Alien Encounters were incomplete. Was this intentional or just sloppiness? I worried that it might be on purpose considering the controversial nature of some of Missler's documentation. Keep in mind that in 1997 it would have been nearly impossible for a reader to locate the remainder of an incomplete original source, but in 2013 I could usually fill in the blanks by googling information online. Perhaps this seems unfair, but since the book is still widely published and listed all over the Internet as an authoritative source, this is something that any reader could do. My point in following the research trail was also, I must confess, to see if it would lead the reader to hear the Gospel of Salvation. Sadly, I did not find it in the first chapter.

Missler quotes extensively from a USA Today report published on June 18, 1997 concerning Phoenix Lights.[40] These sightings are now entrenched in UFO Lore and have received considerable media attention over the years, even including UFO documentaries on the Discovery and History channels, and YouTube videos as well.[41] The perplexing thing about these types of UFO sightings is that there are no ready answers, the government does indeed appear to cover things up, and some people fraudulently profit from altering data (such as film footage). Many use these mysterious events to foment extraordinary conspiracy theories.[42] In his book, Missler footnotes this Phoenix Lights section with a frightening conspiracy theory of his own – a theory which even seems plausible – but which had no documentation:

The authors suspect that this wasn’t a UFO, but an [sic] test exercise in military holography, a ‘non-lethal weapons’ technology that went deeply classified in 1994.[43]

By this time in the book I was wondering why so much time was being spent on recording the various UFO sightings around the world. What does all this have to do with the Gospel? With Jesus Christ? It seemed very far removed from anything Christian. And the credible sources relied upon by Missler seemed to be getting more incredible each time I turned a page. The Korea UFO sightings described on pages 20-21 of Missler’s book were not footnoted but a search online revealed that some of the accounts can be found on UFO lore websites. Missler concludes this section by noting that the Korea story was “reported by mainstream media.”[44] Indeed, when UFO sightings are reported in mainstream publications, it does give it an air of legitimacy. But elsewhere Missler was using some pretty strange sources!

A typical New Age ad in Connecting Link, Issue 21, 1993, p. 31.

The next section of the chapter sent me on a number of research rabbit trails. On page 23 Missler discusses “Project Starlight,” a congressional briefing sponsored by the Center for the Study of Extraterrestrial Intelligence (CSETI) founded by Dr. Steven M. Greer. I had never heard of Greer before, so I was surprised to learn that he was “trained as a Transcendental Meditation teacher in 1975” and he founded “The Disclosure Project whose goal is to disclose to the public the government’s alleged knowledge of extraterrestrials.”[45] CSETI’s organizational “goal is to initiate contact with extraterrestrials.” Over the years I had noticed how many New Age groups incorporated the mythological evil god “Set”[46] (a reference to Satan) into their acronym. Now I was learning that many UFO organizations do this, too – a chilling fact.

Missler recommends Greer’s www.cseti.org website[47] with instructions on how to obtain copies of these briefings. At the official CSETI homepage one can read about how to get in contact with space aliens. CSETI advocates contacting aliens by remote viewing and other occult meditative techniques. The website has many pages devoted to expeditions that Dr. Greer has taken to try to communicate with space aliens. It also appears that CSETI sees itself as a public relations firm for extraterrestrials and their UFO causes. CSETI’s “The Disclosure Project” webpage documents its many press briefings (such as the one reported on by Missler), and brags that its Public Affairs Office “now has relationships with reporters from every major wire service, newspaper, news weekly, and television network in the nation.”[48]

Dr. Greer is a noted New Ager who advertises his work with “The Self Awareness Institute”[49] that “provides training in Self-Realization and the enlightenment of the consciousness” along with that of Steven S. Sadleir, “a Kundalini Master in the lineage of Vethathiri Maharishi and Siddha Yogi and also Sri Sri Sri Shivabalayogi Maharaj.”[50] Greer was cited by Missler as an expert and the footnote reveals that Greer's quotation was taken from Art Bell’s Coast to Coast radio show – hardly a source of credible information. Coast to Coast, now hosted by George Noory, has been famous (or infamous) for its extreme paranormal fascinations, conspiracy theories, New Age channelings, occult activities, Bigfoot sightings, and general kookiness.[52]

This research rabbit trail took me to the “Project Starlight Documents at Clinton Library” webpage. Here I learned that its funding came from Laurance Rockefeller. I found this to be quite interesting since it is well known that Laurance Rockefeller has financed major New Age initiatives for over a generation.[53] An article in Nexus Magazine, “Rockefeller Internationalism,”[54] details Laurance Rockefeller’s funding of these UFO initiatives the 1990s:

In March 1993 Laurance, assisted by a former naval intelligence officer, reportedly met with Bill Clinton's science adviser to discuss UFOs and present a study entitled "Matrix of UFO Belief".

It is alleged that, in August 1995, Laurance discussed the UFO issue at length with President Clinton at his ranch in Wyoming.

From 1993 to 1995, Laurance provided US$500,000 to the CPSC, an organisation run by Dr John Mack, the Harvard psychologist who attracted enormous controversy with his endorsement of the alien abduction theory.

Laurance paid for at least two meetings with the Starlight Group, an organisation comprising former intelligence officers and military personnel who shared an interest in UFOs.

Laurance once funded a plan to establish contact with aliens, not by radio telescope but by signalling them with banks of powerful halogen lamps.

Laurance also once held a UFO conference at his ranch in Wyoming.

In 1995, Laurance provided US$30,000 to a project by the BSW Foundation, created by Marie "Bootsie" Galbraith, wife of investment banker Evan Galbraith and one-time US ambassador to France, to prepare a report on the most reliable evidence about UFOs. The report, titled "Unidentified Flying Objects Briefing Document: The Best Available Evidence" and prepared with the assistance of CUFOS (Center for UFO Studies), FUFOR (Fund for UFO Research) and MUFON (Mutual UFO Network), went to designated "leaders of the world" only.

In 1999, Laurance provided a grant in the "five-figure range" to the BLT Research Team, Inc. to study crop circles. In 2002, BLT announced its findings that many crop circles were created not by humans but by a "mysterious energy force". [55]

The author of this Nexus Magazine article, Will Banyan, wrote that although some speculated that “Laurance's activities serve a more sinister agenda to ‘present an “alien invasion”… as a pretext to fully entrench the New World Order’,”[56] he suspected that Laurance’s intention might be to use the alien threat to create a more New Age mindset for humanity:

it seems more likely that Laurance's dabbling in the UFO scene, besides reflecting some possible eccentricities on his part, forms part of his broader agenda to try to mould humanity's ethical outlook. Rather than trying to establish the existence of a negative "alien threat", the aim is gradually to reinforce the sense that there is a genuine, possibly benevolent, alien presence out there—a presence that by its very existence challenges existing religious, cultural and political frameworks, surely compelling us to coalesce around a single new idea.[57] [bold added]

By this time in my research I was becoming increasingly uneasy. I had just stumbled onto a significant money trail and it led from the New World Order[58] straight into the New Age. Who was funding the UFO initiatives? And why were Christian leaders such as Chuck Missler getting on board this agenda? And why was everyone talking about changing our worldviews and mindsets – clearly a New Age agenda – and one that I was personally quite familiar with! [59]

Table of Contents, Connecting Link, Issue 21, 1993, p. 3.

On pages 24-29 of Alien Encounters Missler gives an account of several U.S. astronauts who say they saw spaceships. NASA cover-ups are alleged. Maurice Chatelain, “former chief of NASA communications” is cited as an expert. In fact, his accounts are now an entrenched part of UFO lore on the Internet.[60] Missler also mentions Chatelain’s book Our Cosmic Ancestors. Our Cosmic Ancestors talks about ancient aliens and the Egyptian Pyramids, Stonehenge, the Maltese Cross, the Sumerian Zodiac, the Mayan Calendar, as well as complicated mathematical coded messages. The book’s back cover states that Chatelain

has compiled compelling evidence to show that a highly advanced civilization had existed on the Earth approximately 65,000 years ago. Further, his work indicates that the knowledge of the advanced civilization has been ‘seeded’ by extraterrestrial visitors who have aided mankind with advanced information in mathematics, electricity, and astronomy.[62]

Missler gives his readers no warnings about the controversial nature of Chatelain, nor his New Age books. But Chatelain's (and others') thesis of a NASA cover-up becomes one of the prevailing sub-themes throughout Alien Encounters. This repeated claim of a cover-up becomes problematic. As we have warned previously, “Asserting that there is a cover-up can serve as a way to avoid having to deal with real facts, true science and documentable proof. Anyone can state anything based on the “massive government cover-up” assertion.”[63]

Astronaut Brian O’Leary’s 1994 report to the International Forum on New Science in Fort Collins, Colorado is cited by Missler. O’Leary had alleged that for “nearly 50 years the secrecy apparatus within the United States government has kept from the public UFO and alien contact information.”[64] O’Leary’s report is now an integral part of Internet UFO lore. In a filmed interview archived on this website, Dr. Leary indicates his New Age belief in contacting extraterrestrials via “consciousness” (i.e., New Age meditation). He stated:

Civilizations have been visiting us for a very long time. Their appearance is bizarre… they use the technologies of consciousness…. They can manipulate time and space locally….[65]

Curious about O’Leary and his obvious New Age leanings, I discovered that he was the co-founder of this International Association for New Science (IANS), and his definition of “New Science” included “topics and phenomena which cannot be explained by traditional science and yet may have the potential for significant benefit to the health and conditions for humanity and the planet Earth.”[66] O’Leary also founded the Institute for New Energy (INE) which promotes esoteric ideas about “inner energy.” His bio indicates his New Age experiential credentials.

Toward the end of the decade of the 1970s, he began to have experiences which shook his assumptions about reality. A remote viewing experience, a near death experience, and a healing of an "incurable" knee led him into new territory which none of his scientific colleagues seemed to want to enter….

His earlier books, Exploring Inner and Outer Space and The Second Coming of Science, examine such 'boat rocking' phenomena as UFOs and abduction, the face on Mars (popularized by Richard Hoagland), crop circles, near death experiences, reincarnation, healing, psychokinesis, mind over matter, Earth energies and the latest theories on physics and consciousness.[67]

O'Leary believed there is an extraterrestrial presence on Earth, its relationship to those potentially transformative technologies, and their conjoined organized suppression.[68]

Missler lists Astronaut Edgar Mitchell’s involvement with the CSETI team in 1997. Mitchell has been outspoken about the government’s cover-up of the 1947 Roswell, New Mexico “alleged UFO crash.”[69] He is also a leading New Age researcher into human consciousness and psychic phenomena. His bio records his high-level involvement:

Mitchell's interests include consciousness and paranormal phenomena. On his way back to earth during the Apollo 14 flight he had a powerful Savikalpa samadhi experience, and also claimed to have conducted private ESP experiments with his friends on Earth. The results of said experiments were published in the Journal of Parapsychology in 1971. In early 1973, he founded the nonprofit Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS) to conduct and sponsor research into areas that mainstream science has found unproductive, including consciousness research and psychic events. [70]

Interestingly, Willis Harman, leading Theosophist who was president of Edgar Mitchell’s New Age “science” group IONS (Institute of Noetic Science) for over two decades,[71] gave a keynote address at one of Astronaut Brian O’Leary’s IANS forums.[72] All of these men have been leaders in the “global mind change”[73] agenda of the New Age movement. Their activities to explore “human consciousness” have led them to the frontiers of the occult, and guided the formation of the Emergent Church movement in evangelicaldom.[74]

Missler also cites Astronaut John Blaha who had an encounter with a UFO on March 24, 1989 that was allegedly reported by a ham radio operator. Although NASA denied this episode, it has now become part of Internet UFO lore.[75] Missler spends much speculating about NASA’s denial of the Blaha episode, questioning:

Is the government turning a blind eye to these disclosures, or is this part of a gradual release of information to awaken the populace to the reality of UFOs? Is this a precursor to an announcement of UFO reality? We may soon find out. [76]

Missler also mentions Jim Marrs, author of Alien Agenda,[77] who spoke about videotaping UFOs on Art Bell’s Coast to Coast radio show.[78] Marrs’ bio indicates he is yet another UFO expert who is fascinated by the paranormal and occult:

Beginning in 1992, Marrs spent three years researching and completing a non-fiction book [Alien Agenda, ed.] on a top-secret government program called the Stargate Project involving the psychic phenomenon known as remote viewing….[and] investigation of UFOs.[79]

Missler concludes Chapter One by asking whether “these things are real” or if they “bear evidence of a gigantic delusion.” It is obvious that he is seriously entertaining these New Age UFO experts and their accounts. He raises the question whether this “UFO phenomenon is the harbinger of a New Age of spiritual awakening and evolution accomplished with the assistance of our highly advanced space brothers” or if it “represents the return of God’s angels who sometimes visit in ‘chariots of fire,’ who today are returning to herald the dawning of a new millennium and the arrival of the age of Apocalypse.” He concludes by entertaining the notion that this is all real:

There is increasing evidence that what lies behind these strange events will soon affect every living person on this planet. Who are these extraterrestrials? Where are they from? What is their agenda?[80]

This type of apocalyptic language and conspiracy mongering is a theme that continues throughout the rest of Alien Encounters. At this early point in my reading, I still had sincere hopes that Missler would go back to plain Bible prophecy and what Jesus told us about the end of time. I also found myself feeling a bit embarrassed by Missler’s continual use of less-than-credible sources. Surely a Christian leader of his caliber wasn’t going to continue to rely upon flagrantly New Age and unscholarly scientific sources. While zealously attempting to build the case that UFOs are real and pose a real threat to the planet Earth, Missler's documentation was so obviously based on pseudoscience and New Age Woo[81] that it was discrediting him. But I was to become even more disappointed when I started into the next chapter….

What's Next: Chapter Two: “Ancient Visitors”...

The Truth: Many of these sources employed by Chuck Missler in Alien Encounters involve reports from people who have been openly engaged in practices such as “remote viewing”[82] or mediumistic “channeling.”[83] These are occult techniques popular in the New Age Movement that are also related to clairvoyance.[84] While it is true that the U.S. government was involved in many experiments with these occult practices, that does not make any of them credible, ethical, accurate or truthful.[85] Some of the leaders in these experiments were seeking methods of altering the human brain and changing worldviews. This especially includes those at the Stanford Research Institute (SRI) such as Willis Harman, who had influence over evangelical leaders to change their eschatology.[86]

Should a Christian entertain messages that come from these occult sources? Constance Cumbey, a leading evangelical researcher on the New Age, bluntly cautioned:
“Christians should remember that the motive behind the New Age Movement is Lucifer’s desire to be worshipped as God.”[87]

In the Bible these “remote viewing” and “channeling” practices are associated with wizardry, shamanism and connecting to the dead. The Bible’s admonitions are very clear. God gives strong warnings for Christians to avoid these types of communicators and their communications:

Regard not them that have familiar spirits,neither seek after wizards, to be defiled by them:I am the LORD your God.

(Lev. 19:31)

And the soul that turneth after such as have familiar spirits,and after wizards, to go a whoring after them,I will even set my face against that soul,and will cut him off from among his people.

(Lev. 20:6)

And when they shall say unto you,Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep, and that mutter: should not a people seek unto their God?for the living to the dead?

1. "An 1893 soap ad playing on the popular idea that Mars was populated."

By Gaylene Goodroad & Sarah Leslie

On July 25, 1976 the Viking I probe sent the shocking image of a Face on Mars back to earth. [David] Flynn called it a monument, although NASA tried to explain it away as a trick of shadows. The main trouble with the space agency’s explanation is that it fails to account for a nearby collection of apparent pyramid-like structures oriented in much the same way as pyramids in Egypt.…

[T]he fall of satan [sic] and other wicked angels… was from a destroyed planet — alternatively named Rhab, Asteria and Krypton — and from its closest planetary neighbor — Mars.[1]

“What if Jesus were a spaceman?”

—L.A. Marzulli[2]

Postmodern Eschatology PseudoscienceIn the last four installments of this article series, we explored several key tenets of the Postmodern Prophecy Paradigm (PPP). All of these unbiblical PPP teachings share the shifting foundation of an emerging False Nephilim Eschatology—the invention of a new endtime prophecy scenario relying upon an unlimited variety of extrabiblical sources, past and present, even including ancient mythology. Modern science fiction and pop-culture conspiracy theories are also not off limits, both which form the foundation for thePPP teachers’ incredible thesis that the planet Mars has been an off-site staging area for Nephilim invading the earth![3]

“O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust,avoiding profane and vain babblings,and oppositions of science falsely so called.”

(1 Tim. 6:20)

Besides the obvious heretical and unbiblical foundations for these postmodern prophecy teachings, these wild conjectures are also undergirded by false science. This is what the Bible calls “science falsely so called.”[4] Or, in plain English, pseudoscience.[5] What is pseudoscience?

A system of theories or assertions about the natural world that claim or appear to be scientific but that, in fact, are not. For example, astronomy is a science, but astrology is generally viewed as a pseudoscience.[6]

Pseudoscience is a claim, belief, or practice which is presented as scientific, but does not adhere to a valid scientific method, lacks supporting evidence or plausibility, cannot be reliably tested, or otherwise lacks scientific status. Pseudoscience is often characterized by the use of vague, contradictory, exaggerated or unprovable claims….

Science is also distinguishable from revelation, theology, or spirituality in that it offers insight into the physical world obtained by empirical research and testing. Commonly held beliefs in popular science may not meet the criteria of science. "Pop science" may blur the divide between science and pseudoscience among the general public, and may also involve science fiction.[7][bold in original]

Pseudoscience does not honor the rigors of the scientific method, and it operates outside the confines of objectively testing hypotheses, collecting empirical evidence and verifying documentation. It selects its own peers for review who possess obvious bias. As such, pseudoscience is perfectly compatible with metaphysics. Metaphysics is a term “applied widely and very loosely to anything having to do with the spiritual, occult, esoteric, Hermetic, mystical, paranormal, or supernatural…”[8] The mixture of faulty science with metaphysics is a characteristic of the occult world, especially including Theosophy and its offspring, the New Age Movement. Many beliefs characterized as pseudoscience are also well-known metaphysical philosophies.[9] For example, in “Esoteric Cosmology,” which is an “occult system of thought,” Theosophists and others teach that there are “hierarchies of spiritual beings” and “cosmic cycles” in the universe that require mankind to engage in spiritual discipline for “psycho-spiritual transformation.”[10]

What does the planet MARS have to do with the Gospel of salvation message? Nothing. But the PPP teachers particularly rely on both pseudoscience and metaphysics to make their case for space alien creatures invading the earth to create an endtime ruckus. PPP teachers possess that unique evolutionary mindset that can also be found in both UFOlogy and Theosophy – that man was “seeded” by alien DNA at some point in his early history and that mankind is now reaching the point of crisis where this corruption will wreak havoc on his future. Thus, PPP teachers spend an inordinate amount of time in the early chapters of Genesis re-working man’s earliest history. And likewise they expend a considerable effort developing alternative future scenarios where this alien DNA corruption crisis reaches galactic proportions. Although they do not necessarily claim to be evolutionists, the PPP leaders’ ideas are founded upon esoteric evolutionary ideology. As one critic of this pseudoscience/metaphysical evolutionary mindset has aptly noted:

Many who believe in extraterrestrial life do so because of evolutionary presuppositions that life could evolve anywhere conditions are right…. [They] look to outer space for the biological and technological underpinnings of the human race. Yet, aside from their lack of credible evidence for the existence of these alien forefathers, they still offer no explanation for the origin of the aliens. If human origins are a puzzle, then alien origins become a matter of the wildest conjecture.[11]

This article will examine how the PPP leaders alter the early chapters of Genesis, and then how they connect this revised history to their endtime space alien scenarios.

GAP THEORY – A Gaping ChasmUnderstanding Gap Theory is important because some PPP leaders teach strange things like this:

Before the creation of Adam, the civilizations of angels existed on theterrestrial planets. Throughout scripture there is a consistent reference to the first dwelling places of some of the ancient sons of God. These angels created habitations on the Earth, Mars, "Astera" the Fifth Planet, the Moon.[12] [bold, color and underlining added]

Scripture says nothing about this. What does Scripture plainly teach?

“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep…. And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day. Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens”

(Gen. 1:1-2; 2:1-2, 4).

God—the Creator—made everything out of nothing by speaking it into being (Ex. 20:11; Ps. 33:6, 9; Isa. 45:12). The finished product was “very good”—because the Lord God had made it! The Bible states that from Genesis 1:1 to Genesis 2:4, Elohim, the Creator, “created,” “said,” “saw,” “divided,” “called,” “set,” “blessed,” and then “ended His work” and “rested on the seventh day” (the end of one week) because His great and good work was completed, done, finished. According to this passage, in plain straightforward language, the Lord God created the days, nights, sky, land, sea, sun, moon, stars, creatures, etc., to accommodate mankind who would inhabit the earth. Mankind was created for the purpose of serving, obeying, and worshiping his Creator. This is the context for the opening passages of the Bible. Note that God did not furnish any specifics regarding the angelic realm because they are NOT the subject and thrust of these Scriptures. God has spoken and has given us in His Word what we are to know. Those who choose to go beyond the parameters set by God, in order to discover things that He has not written, do so at their own peril.

Why is the Gap Theory such a pivotal issue? Many of the PPP leaders have embraced the Gap Theory in an attempt to prop up their false Nephilim eschatology—specifically in nailing down the time frame of Satan’s fall and the so-called first appearance of Nephilim creatures. The Gap is no longer recognizable. The Gap has now become a gaping chasm into which PPP teachers pour an incredibly diverse array of extrabiblical speculations.

Pastor Larry DeBruyn recently published a detailed critique of this theory in “The Gap Theory – From Cosmos to Chaos, and Cosmos Again.” Here is how he defined the theory and explained how it came about:

The Gap Theory, as known amongst and designated by Bible teachers, students and some scholars, proposes that an indeterminate period of real time, constituted of millions, if not billions of years, existed between Genesis 1 verse 1, and Genesis 1 verse 2. Many Bible-believing Christians have held to this theory of the Genesis creation account. As paleontological science began to assert itself upon the understanding of human origins during the early 1800s, a science that proposed millions, if not billions, of years for the development of life on this planet, Christian scholars and teachers began to propose different ways of looking at the Genesis account. First, they offered the idea of progressive creation; that is, that one day in the Genesis account equaled an age of millions of years. Such a theory, and those like it, is obviously at odds with the plain language of Genesis’ opening chapter (i.e., days one, two, three, etc., solar days after the fourth day, and the Sabbath day). But second, other fundamental Christians, in order to reconcile the presumably immense periods of time inferred from earth’s geological strata and the death indicated by the fossil record, suggested the novel idea that between the Bible’s two opening verses a unspecified period of time existed, a “gap” that could accommodate the fossil and geological evidence.[13] [bold added]

Note that the Gap Theory did not come about until the 1800s—and not until Christians attempted to reconcile the Genesis record with the new science of that time: paleontology.[14] They imposed Darwinian science upon the Bible, and not the other way around. After a careful examination of the Genesis text, Pastor DeBruyn draws a firm conclusion regarding the veracity of the Gap Theory:

As Genesis 1 verse 2 states, Elohim did not create earth, unlike other bodies in our solar system, to be uninhabited. So subsequently God created plant, ocean, animal and human life to inhabit earth. In straightforward language, this is what the opening of Genesis states. Insertion of a chaotic time period between Genesis verse 1 and verse 2 to accommodate the geological ages of evolutionary science, explain the ruin of this planet by Satan and his hoard of fallen angels, and account for the rise of ancient mythologies is arbitrary. In short, the grammar does not support the gap. Genesis’ six days of creation is not a record of God’s “make over” of a previously ruined creation. [15][bold added]

Most PPP leaders, however, have placed a “gap” between Genesis 1:1 and Genesis 1:2 in order to accommodate the origins of the Watchers (fallen angels) who fathered the Nephilim (by human mothers), and to pinpoint the satanic rebellion of the fallen angelic realm. L.A. Marzulli, popular PPP author and speaker, explains these beliefs:

In the book I’m working on The Cosmic Chess Match, I propose that the universe is much older than 6,000 years. What we see in the first verses of Genesis, seems to indicate that there was a nasty, cataclysmic, event that left: the earth without form and void and in darkness. The Hebrew word for form is tohuw. It can mean: formlessness, confusion, unreality, emptiness. Void, can be translated: emptiness, void, waste. I believe this points to a recreation of the earth! Rabbi’s [sic] and Biblical scholars have pondered the opening sentence from Genesis, for centuries. Here’s what I believe. There was a war in heaven and the anointed Cherub, Satan, rebelled and dragged one-third of the angels with him. It is possible that this rebellion happened aeons ago and if we are intellectually honest, we will admit that no one knows when this rebellion occurred. This rebellion may have been responsible for the chaotic earth. On that basis, I look at the Genesis 1, as a recreation of the earth and there are others who hold this view as well. (G. H. Pember, Clarence Larkin. I. D. E. Thomas. M. K. DeHaan).[16] [bold in original, underlining, red added]

But the Scripture does not teach “a re-creation of the earth” as Pastor Larry has shown in his careful analysis of this issue. The fact that many other notable Christians past and present believe this error does not make it biblically true. Nonetheless, besides Marzulli, both Tom Horn and Gary Stearman also promote the idea that the Gap Theory is a viable teaching. This is because it forms a necessary foundation for their emerging endtime eschatology. During an interview with Horn on Stearman’s Prophecy in the News (PITN) broadcast last September, both authors affirmed the possibility that the earth was “re-created”—after the fall of Satan and before the Watchers (fallen angels) came down to produce the Nephilim by mating with human women.[17]

Although calling the Gap Theory “highly speculative, “controversial,” and “provocative,” PPP adherent Chuck Missler also made great allowances for it in a ten-minute YouTube video clip in 2008.[18] In explaining the language used in Genesis 1:1-2 (“without form and void”), Missler cites Jeremiah 4:24-25 to support a purported gap between the first two verses of Genesis Chapter One, “…I beheld, and, lo, the fruitful place was a wilderness, and all the cities thereof were broken down at the presence of the LORD…” Pointing out that the barren wilderness that Jeremiah was describing was at one time “inhabited” (like the earth in Gen. 1:1), he adds, “Some suspect that maybe Jeremiah is getting a glimpse of a judgment that preceded Genesis verse two.”

But as Pastor DeBruyn so carefully explained in his analysis of the Genesis 1:2 grammar (above), the “straightforward language” in this text teaches that Elohim (the Creator) “did not create the earth… to be uninhabited.” Clearly, Missler has misapplied the passage in Jeremiah to squeeze it into the Gap Theory. After listing various Christian proponents of this theory, Missler repeats its controversial nature and then adds, “It [Gap Theory] does seem to link a lot of different passages.”[19] In the video clip, Missler finishes his teaching by offering several conjectures regarding the timing of Satan’s fall—hinting that it took place between Genesis 1:1 and Genesis 1:2. It seems that Missler also needs the Gap Theory in order to prop up his similar endtime eschatologies, as shall be shown.

Falling Through the Martian GAPThe late David Flynn, PPP leader and author, was also a proponent of the Gap Theory. Since his untimely death early last year,[20] Tom Horn has published a collection of his works.[21] Here is how one reviewer, friendly toward Flynn, described one of the books in this collection, Flynn’s Cydonia: the Secret Chronicles of Mars:

Flynn was an advocate of the Gap Theory, a school of interpretation that sees a gap in time between God’s original act of creation in Genesis 1:1 and a continuation of the process in succeeding verses. It was popular in the late 1800s because it accommodated science’s geologic age scale nicely. While that doesn’t seem to be Flynn’s primary justification for the theory, it does provide a convenient place to assign the fall of satan [sic] and other wicked angels

Now we come to the second shocking interpretation. That fall was from a destroyed planet — alternatively named Rhab, Asteria and Krypton — and from its closest planetary neighbor — Mars. The theory of a doomed planet that exploded, resulting in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter has been around for a while, but Flynn is one of the first to identify it as an abode of angels.[22] [bold added]

Reality check:Do fallen angels live on Mars!?The Gap Theory became a huge gaping abyss for Flynn to pour in all sorts of suppositions and conjectures—such as Satan falling from “a destroyed planet—alternatively name Rahab, Asteria and Krypton.” DC Comics fans will recognize that Superman originated from the planet Krypton, a “fictional planet in the DC Universe”!

According to Flynn, not only did Satan reign over the planets of our solar system (which was inhabited by “civilizations of pre-rebellion angels”)—before the creation of Adam—but that there is evidence today of that civilization on Mars:

When Satan rebelled, God cast him as profane from the height of heaven. Because of his rebellion, Satan was destroyed from the midst of the "stones of fire", the planets, where he had reigned over literal material kingdoms [pre-Adam]. Evidence of the civilization on Mars can still be seen, while another civilization of B'nai ha Elohim was destroyed thoroughly, becoming the asteroid belt... Our studies of scripture have lead [sic] us to the controversial view that civilizations of pre-rebellion angels lived on the planets of our solar system before the creation of Adam...[24][bold, red added]

It wasn’t Flynn’s “studies of scripture” that led him to these bizarre false teachings. These teachings come from other sources, including especially UFO lore, occult pseudoscience and pagan mythology. Furthermore, Flynn has taught a version of the Gap Theory about the planet Mars that also has no credible scientific underpinnings:

When Satan and his angels rebelled, God destroyed their literal dwelling places. According to scripture this destruction was swift and decisive. The fifth terrestrial planet which God calls "Rahab" (boaster, pride), was obliterated.

God brought a fire out of Satan's midst, in the center of his greatest planetary kingdom. The planet Rahab exploded sending pieces of itself into the orbits of the interior terrestrial worlds. Asteroid impacts on the surface of mars [sic] rocked the planet, oceans washed over its dry land. The martian [sic] atmosphere was blasted into space.

On earth virtually the same catastrophes took place -- DESTROYING CITIES CREATED ON EARTH BEFORE THERE WERE EVEN ADAMS[25][bold added]

Note that Flynn refers to “Adams” (plural) rather than Adam (singular), thus betraying he does not believe in the literal creation of Adam and Eve in Genesis. Many other PPP leaders similarly waffle on the literal Adam. Flynn is not alone in enlarging the Gap Theory wide enough to accommodate truckloads of additional extrabiblical and pseudoscience beliefs, including alien beings living on Mars. Others also use the Gap for trafficking their novel eschatological ideas.

Lucifer Lives in Cydonia’s Face? Tom Horn and Steve Quayle, both leading PPP adherents, promoted Flynn’s book and strange teachings about Mars in a 2008 radio broadcast. Among the outlandish themes explored, was Horn’s contention that “Satan fell from a star system—a planetoid” and that Mars was a possible “prison” or “outpost” for fallen angels, or Watchers.[26] These incredible fables were incorporated into Horn’s fictional book, The Ahriman Gate[27], where he spun even more sensational themes.[28] Note, then, how Horn included hearty excerpts of this fictional book into his 2007 “non fictional” book, Nephilim Stargates: the Year 2012 and the Return of the Watchers—mixing in these fanciful concoctions about Mars and the Gap Theory—duping his readers into believing that he was instead presenting biblical truth. In this excerpt notice the subtle psychological manipulation by using fiction to change a person's worldview:

Where did Lucifer fall from? Some suggest the original domain of Lucifer was among the celestial bodies and that he literally fell “from the heavens.” We fictionalized this belief in our novel, The Ahriman Gate:

As it turned out, Renaldo believed Ezekiel’s citation of Lucifer moving “up and down amidst the stones of fire” was a reference to the once-glorious being’s dominion of the planetary belt, including Mars. He had long thought the Cydonia Face and pyramidal structures near it were curious, potentially illustrating a past Martian civilization that, if proven, would provide physical support for the Bible’s account of prehistoric war and the subsequent expulsion of Lucifer and his angels “from the heavens.”

“Keep in mind,” Renaldo shared over the phone, “Such evidence might also provide background for the building of the pyramids and similar structures on Earth—those monuments whose technical requirements seem far in advance of ancient man’s comprehension, the physical construction of which may predate Adam and Eve. The astronomical features built into the Great Pyramid alone are startling: how the four corners face true north, south, east, and west; how the antechamber points to the center of the universe; and so on.” Jones, a history scholar in his own right, was fully aware of the pyramid’s enigmas, yet now as he listened, he learned something he didn’t know. [29][bold, red, underlining added]

This teaching—that physical monuments such as the pyramids, were built by an earlier civilization that pre-dates the biblical Adam or modern man—can be traced to Theosophical cosmology. The Theosophists taught the very offensive “Root Race” mysticism which credited early earth civilizations, such as the Lemurians (Third Race), with building “stone edifices” and “monumental images,” such as the pyramids in Egypt. The Theosophists connect the Egyptian pyramids in many arcane ways to the planet Mars.[30] Throughout the remainder of this article note how many times Mars is similarly connected to Egypt in the quotes by the PPP leaders. Why are they teaching this?

In order to convey these arcane ideas, many other PPP leaders resort to fiction, speculation and imagination. This is because openly teaching beliefs found in Theosophy would be too obvious. For example, Horn elaborately speculates about pyramids and cities built on Mars during this Gap in creation. In order to bolster his case, he relies on a potent mixture of beguiling fiction and fascinating pseudoscience:

“Close to the Cydonia Face on Mars is a similar five-sided pyramid with detailed buttressing suspiciously positioned at 1/360th of the Martian polar diameter from the Face. In the same area, other structures form a perfect equilateral triangle in what some experts at NASA are now calling ‘the city complex.’” Copiously scribbling the Bishop’s thoughts as he spoke, Jones said, “I wasn’t aware of the city complex, but the qualities of the enormous face are astonishing. Eyebrows over eye sockets with pupils. A parted mouth with lips and teeth. A nose tapered back toward the forehead. A crown strikingly similar to those worn by Egyptian and Mayan royalty.” Jones had done his homework before calling the scholar. Renaldo agreed. “Indeed, Mathematicians have postulated the chances of the face arising by chance at a thousand billion, billion to one, so it is significant.” “Significant enough to convince you it’s real?” Jones had asked.

“In my opinion, if what we are seeing in NASA’s photos represent intelligent engineering, not a trick of shadows and light, we may have no other alternative.” “But isn’t that anathema” A challenge to biblical history?” Clearing his throat, Renaldo had said, “Not really. In fact the answer to this riddle is found in the Bible, I’m sure of it, in such places as the book of Job, where the old prophet tells us that God destroyed the literal dwelling places of the angels that made insurrection against Him. Job specifically mentions the destruction of Rahab, a planetary body also known as ‘Pride,’ from which God drove ‘the fugitive snake.’”

“So you believe, tenuously I take it, that cities on Mars might actually have existed, and that these were abandoned during a pre-Genesis war between Good and Evil?” “I’d go a step further.

If pyramids on Mars are confirmed in my lifetime, disclosed by reputable governments and scientific institutions, mind you, I’ll present it to the Vatican as possible proof of such a war.” Jones considered the far-reaching ramifications of that comment, the reiterated, “Not to belabor the point, but wouldn’t questions about the central doctrines of Christianity arise during such a discovery? Especially if the Martian buildings match the architecture of structures in Egypt?” “Satan will use it to his benefit, undoubtedly,” Renaldo confirmed. “People will point to Mars and then to the Egyptian desert and say, See! Here’s proof! We came from aliens! The Bible is a hoax!’ This could even be part of the strong delusion prophesied for the End Times.” Having agreed with this and other assessments made by the Bishop, Jones hung up and painstakingly reconstructed each element of the conversation before drawing his own conclusions. (Horn 109-111)

Though fiction, the above dialogue is based on accepted theology concerning Lucifer and the possibility that the location from which he fell was a star system or planetoid. Later on in The Ahriman Gate we dramatize Mars as having become a prison planet, in which the rebel angels are bound…. [31][bold, red, underlining added]

Take note of Horn’s deceptive disclaimer to the reader following his fictional detour through The Ahriman Gate: “Though fiction, the above dialogue is based on accepted theology concerning Lucifer and the possibility that the location from which he fell was a star system or planetoid.” This so-called “accepted theology” was part and parcel of the fiction he just presented in the preceding narrative! Also key is the fact that Horn does not cite any biblical text here, nor does he offer any footnoting in the entire book. In the back of Nephilim Stargates, on page 228, Horn includes Flynn’s Cydonia: The Secret Chronicles of Mars as one of the works cited.[32]

The Ahriman Gate begins with a “Note to the Reader” on page 7:

While the story you are about to read is fictional, the technology and prophetic speculations presented in this book describe factual advancing sciences and future possibilities as foretold in the Bible for the Last Days.[33] [bold added]

One of the features of pseudoscience is that the lines between fact and fiction become blurred. Clearly, the references to Krypton, a purely fictional creation in the DC Comics “Universe” (and Hollywood), indicates how far from reality these PPP teachers will veer. But what about Cydonia? What is it?

Cydonia’s Face: Science vs. Pseudoscience

2. Cydonia's "Face"

Here is a brief science lesson. Above is the image of the “Face on Mars” that has so much esoteric significance to Flynn and Horn, et al. This is a “cropped version of the original batch-processed image (#035A72)” taken by Viking 1 on July 25, 1976 depicting the 1.2 mile long Cydonian mesa, situated at 40.75” north latitude and 9.46” west longitude. A second image, 070A13 also showed this face at a different sun-angle. These images taken in 1976 had poor resolutions (pixels) by modern standards. UFO speculators have engaged in many wild theories about the early Martian landscape photos that came via Viking 1.

Several decades later, other spacecraft explored Mars and took new photos, including the Mars Global Surveyor, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and the European Space Agency’s Mars Express. New photos were taken with higher resolution and it was ultimately concluded that “a detailed analysis of multiple images of this feature reveals a natural looking Martian hill whose illusory face-like appearance depends on the viewing angle and the angle of illumination.”[34]

Nevertheless, despite these factual scientific documentations of the actual land feature on Mars, there are prominent individuals and organizations interested in extraterrestrials (ETs, space aliens) who still insist that this “Face on Mars” is evidence of a long-lost Martian civilization, including pyramids and a ruined city. This idea is primarily attributed to Richard C. Hoagland, who developed many conspiracy theories about NASA and lost civilizations on the Moon and Mars, including his claims of an on-going massive government cover-up.[35] Hoagland has been a major influence on the PPP teachers, as will be seen later in this article. Like the PPP teachers, Hoagland also seems to espouse the belief in embedded esoteric mathematical codes and occult “sacred geometry”[36]:

Hoagland claims the "Face on Mars" is part of a city built on Cydonia Planitia consisting of very large pyramids and mounds arranged in a geometric pattern, with the ratios between measured angles roughly equaling mathematical constants such as pi (π), e, as well as the square root of 2 (√2), the square root of 3 (√3), and the number 3. He states that the ratio between the surface area of a sphere and the surface area of the tetrahedron inscribed within it, ≈2.720699, which is π × (√3)/2, is an approximation of e that he refers to as e'. Since e'/π = (√3)/2 = ≈0.866, he speculates that the primary meaning of the geometry of Cydonia is to emphasize the ratio of the sphere and circumscribed tetrahedron. To Hoagland, this is evidence that an advanced civilization might once have existed on Mars, and that NASA is suppressing the evidence….[37][bold added]

Of course, when the higher-resolution Mars mission scientific photos were released, disproving the “face in Mars” theory, Hoagland at first accused space officials of fraud. Later he resorted to claiming that it wasn’t natural geology. No matter what scientific proof came forth, it became part of Hoagland’s conspiracy theory about a cover-up. Hoagland’s bio on Wikipedia has a very long list of his deviant pseudoscience beliefs, much of which he has popularized via alternative media outlets such as Coast to Coast radio. Hoagland is so noted for his bizarre pseudoscience theories that he has even been the subject of satire and parodies.[38] Nevertheless, Hoagland is treated as though he were a credible authority, and he seems to have inspired many of the space alien and government cover-up conspiracy theories touted by Tom Horn and his fellow PPP teachers.

Here is a tip: Next time you read about a massive government cover-up from one of these sources, start asking questions about its validity. There are indeed government cover-ups—no one doubts this—just read the current news! But here we are talking about the act of CLAIMING a cover-up, which can also SERVE as a cover-up! Asserting that there is a cover-up can serve as a way to avoid having to deal with real facts, true science and documentable proof. Anyone can state anything based on the “massive government cover-up” assertion. For instance, we could insist that “little pink elves live on Pluto and NASA isn’t telling us” – and how could it be disproven? It can’t! Yet, it also can’t be proven.[39]

Beware: conspiracy theories gain the most traction when there is a bit of truth mixed with the error! As one writer has so aptly noted:

Idols are not made from scratch. It involves the distortion of already present truth. The truth is changed into a lie. The lie depends upon the truth it is distorting for its power, just as the counterfeit depends upon the authentic for its value. Our idols of God contain truths within them, making them all the more seductive to us.[40]

Likewise the manipulative tactics of inserting niggling doubts into people’s minds, or suggesting remotely plausible concepts, or mixing up fact and fiction, is how these PPP leaders gain so much momentum with their pseudoscience. Many of them simply use the well-worn tactic of asking lots of loaded questions. That way they can have deniability—“Hey! I was just asking the questions,” they will protest when challenged. Nevertheless, if the PPP teachers were really interested in true science, they’d tell you the factual information about the Mars images of Cydonia’s Face. In fact, Michael Heiser, one of the PPP teachers, when the new images of Cydonia were released, went so far as to caution Richard Hoagland, a major advocate of the Mars conspiracy theories, to drop his “face on Mars” assertions in light of the factual science:

With respect to Richard, it will be painful if Richard goes the denial route — the notion that the new image isn’t real, or is doctored, or (worse) still shows a face. He will cross into the realm of the comical if he does that, so I hope he doesn’t…. My hope is that Richard will do what a scientist would in the wake of the new photo: say he was wrong, junk all the ideas rendered null by the error, and then concentrate on the working hypotheses that remain....[42]

Of David Flynn, and his Mars theories, Heiser noticed how the face on Mars “had an impact on his eschatology” and wrote that Flynn should spend his time more profitably by teaching Christians things of the ancient occult.:

I think the new Cydonia photo might be more serious for David Flynn since he had attached a few theological ideas to the “face” (but it doesn’t need to be). Dave is very gifted and, in my judgment, a valuable resource as a thinker…. My hope for Dave is that he will be willing to dispense with the “face” and focus on what I’ve always wished he’d focus on: occult history and — more importantly — doing what is necessary to teach that history to a popular audience….

I’d love to see Dave do more in regard to teaching the principles of sacred geometry, gematria, numerology, and occult history, especially to a Christian (yes, I said Christian) audience. Why? Because the thoughts Dave thinks were the thoughts of very important “schools” in the ancient world — schools that produced their own “occult hermeneutic” for the Bibleand biblical theology. Dave is one of the few people who speak that language today.[43][bold added]

The implication in Heiser's remarks is that the occult world has something to teach Christians. That we should be referring to an occult hermeneutic and sacred geometry in order to decode Scripture. This morbid fascination with the occult is becoming the operating system for the PPP teachers.

MISSLER’s Metaphysical MARS Chuck Missler also entertains a similar Martian theology based upon the presupposition of the Gap Theory. On his 66/40 radio broadcast, “The Red Planet and the God of War - The Mysteries of the Planet Mars,” Missler opens wide the door to considering these far-fetched teachings. Missler engages the Cydonian pseudoscience about Mars being a “staging base to plant life on the earth,” but not for the purpose of disputing it. Rather, he gives it credence:

But I wanna—since we’re on the planet Mars, I wanna share some things with you that you might find interesting and maybe this is old news for you. This is a blow up of something that occurred on, uh, Viking 1, orbit number 35. It encountered on a large, flat plain—this peculiar structure. It’s called, ‘the face on Mars’. It’s a structure that’s about a mile across. It’s a structure that is possibly, many people argue, is just a strange aberration by just the accident of meteor hits or whatever. But more and more people who have studied it are bothered by that—for, cause it has some strange features….

Now, as they study this thing, this thing has been analyzed and analyzed and analyzed… they see, perhaps the most disturbing aspect of these many analyses that you see on the screen, the geometry and the composition so forth is the symmetry! “Random hits of a meteor or something rarely result in symmetrical designs. The symmetry is one of its disturbing features. This structure is located in what’s called the Cydonia region of Mars....

And you can get all carried away with the mathematics and the ratios and so forth. Some people have. People seem to fall into two camps: those that believe that this is all just much ado about nothing, Those that are convinced that these are fabricated monuments by people, or some kind of personages that inhabited Mars…. Now, one of the things that, uh, comes up in all of this is, were there beings on Mars? They are quick to jump to the idea that Mars may have been a staging base to plant life on the earth.[44][bold and color added]

Note that Missler is citing the conspiratorial theories of Richard Hoagland, complete with the metaphysical mathematical calculations. In fact, he mentions Hoagland by name, stating that NASA was going to study these Mars features but had not included Hoagland as part of their team: “NASA regards him, I think, as causing too much commotion and stirring up trouble wherever he goes.”[45]

3. Just one of Missler's teachings on Mars

Missler continues by resorting to science fiction and guided imagery in order to describe his pseudoscience version of Mars and its Nephilim who “may have built these structures” such as Cydonia’s Face:

If you canimagine putting on your science fiction hat for the moment, that you’re part of an inter-galactic mission, you’ve been travelling for light years with no gravity or artificial gravity, if any. And you are coming into our solar system. The outer planets are gaseous and, uh, not firm. The inter planet Mercury is 900 degrees Fahrenheit it’s a cool day. It’s not very hospitable. Venus has its problem being mostly, uh, ammonia, methane and, uh, it’s not a very hospitable place. The place that’s most desirable—which has the richest array of elements in free supply on the planet is the planet earth. But it’s got a substantial gravity. And so the hypothesis is that such a mission would probably land on Mars despite the fact it’s an arid desert with nothing but UV radiation—and extreme temperature changes. Very inhospitable in many ways, it could be a place to get used to a gravitational environment about a third that of the earth before going to the earth.

And around this kind of a possibility arise a number of conjectures that generally are under the category of what’s called panspermia—the idea that this kind of a venture is what originally seeded the earth with its present inhabitants. A very popular theme among New Agers—very popular theme among those who are fanciful in this area. There is an alternative possibility, of course, not that Mars seeded the earth, but maybe the earth seeded Mars. There are some that also, just as off the wall in their conjectures, is that the Nephilim of Genesis 6 may have built these structures—if it turns out indeed those structures were built… These conjectures go on and on and on.[46][bold and red added]

Like Horn, who imbeds many of his fantastically false ideas into his best-selling books via fictional fantasizing, Missler utilizes the “conjecturing” method to introduce all sorts of heretical doctrines and strange ideas—like the possibility that “the earth seeded Mars”—into his teaching! He is not refuting panspermia, he is entertaining it!

The ultimate challenge for the cryptologist is the message from an unknown culture. These can include records left by a lost civilization or a message from a world beyond our own.[48] [bold added]

In exploring these varying “messages from a world beyond our own,” even the possibility of “extraterrestrial,” “intergalactic,” and “extra-dimensional” communication or “interstellar language,” Missler then moves to a section called “Pictorial Proposals”:

A pictorial approach has the appeal of concreteness…. Writing itself began as a series of pictures…. The earliest suggestions to signal man’s presence on Earth to creatures of another planets proposed giant diagrams…. Viennese astronomer Josef Johann von Littrow proposed digging canals in the Sahara to form geometric figures with 20-mile side. At night kerosene was to be poured upon the water and set ablaze. Charles Cros in France suggested the idea of a huge mirror to reflect sunlight, like a giant heliograph, toward Mars. Some believe that the structures on the Planet Mars, photographed by Viking 1 in 1976, are just such structures. The controversial, but intriguing mile-wide “face” is among the anticipated resolutions expected from the current Mars missions. Some of the recent returns seem to indicate that the structures are, in fact, natural; however, there are still many enthusiasts that insist that there is more there to be discovered.[49][bold, red added]

In other words, the Word of God is insufficient to furnish us with the truth about God’s Creation of the cosmos—including mankind and the angelic realm. We must instead turn to cosmology “cryptologists” like Chuck Missler[50] in order to interpret secret coded “records left by lost civilizations”—like perhaps the fallen angels or their offspring who left archeological ruins on the planet Mars! To add weight to his contention that “a pictorial approach has the appeal of concreteness,” Missler includes the debunked “Cydonia Face on Mars” photo (taken from the 1976 Viking 1 spacecraft) on page 35 of Cosmic Codes.

“Fascination With Mars” is another title of an article posted on Missler’s Koinonia House website, which articulates similar views about Mars. Dolphin Lambert, the author, speculates that some of the features on Mars may be indicative of “some ancient civilization on Mars” and bear “muted evidence that intelligent beings once lived there.”[51] In conclusion, despite the overwhelming scientific evidence about Mars, PPP leader Chuck Missler is still perpetuating—rather than debunking—the pseudoscience and conspiracy theories.

XENOARCHEOLOGY & MISSION TO MARSIn the case of Tom Horn and his co-author Cris Putnam, Hollywood movies can also be used to perpetrate these seductively false Martian cosmologies on unsuspecting Christians. In their latest best-selling book, Exo-Vaticana, the authors not only give credence to the myth that fallen angels once lived on planets in the solar system—with Satan serving as a one-time intergalactic ruler—but also give credibility to supposed alien structures on the Cydonian face on Mars. Note that despite the current scientific evidence, these teachers are still perpetuating unscientific frauds.

Chapter 17 of Exo-Vaticana is entitled: “If Artificial Structures Are Found on Another Planet (Xenoarchaeology), Will You Lose Your Religion?” Did you catch that impressive scientific-sounding term, Xenoarchaeology, in parentheses? Here is the definition:

Xenoarchaeology is a hypothetical form of archaeology that exists mainly in the works of sciencefiction. The field is concerned with the study of material remains to reconstruct and interpret past life-ways of alien civilization. Xenoarchaeology is not currently practiced by mainstream archaeologists due to the current lack of any material for the discipline to study.[53] [bold, red added]

In other words, “Xenoarchaeology” is a pseudoscience “that exists mainly in the works of science fiction.” It is a fitting word for the chapter which opens with a full-page DVD graphic of the Disney movie Mission to Mars starring popular actors Gary Sinise and Tim Robbins.

4. Mission to Mars movie

Here is how this chapter opens on pages 467 and 468 of Horn's Exo-Vaticana:

In 2000, a movie directed by Brian De Palma titled Mission to Mars was released to theaters. It… depicted a NASA commander…who, together with a crew of four astronauts, lands on the red planet. While exploring parts of the infamous “Cydonia” region, the “truth” about the Face on Mars as a genuine artificial structure is discovered together with remnants of advanced alien technology…. The film inferred that when we do set foot on Mars, the remains of pyramids, city structures, and past alien presence could be made near the sphinx-like “face” and anomalous shapes photographed by the Viking Mars probe. [bold added]

With these sci-fi myths already laid out as truth in subsequent pages, Horn and Putnam then reinforce their fable by “exposing” one small layer of the supposed “cover-up of global proportions” over this Martian chronicle—with a dramatic showdown between NASA and Disney:

In the lead-up to the release of Mission to Mars, Disney had worked with an army of NASA scientists, astronauts, and technicians to produce the script for the film. Soon after, a row reportedly took place between NASA and Disney, as it seemed the space agency didn’t like what the film was set to insinuate: that a discovery had been made of past alien presence on Mars, that an artificial, sphinx-like “face” and pyramidal shapes near it (photographed by the Viking Mars probe) had actually been discovered, and that a twenty-five-year cover-up was being perpetrated by NASA and the US government in collusion with other world powers who were waiting for a mysterious “right time” to disclose the findings.[54] [bold, red added]

Apparently, Disney gave in to NASA and became part of the so-called conspiratorial cover-up—along with “NASA and the US government in collusion with other world powers” (including the Vatican) who together await “a mysterious ‘right time’ to disclose the findings.” These conspiracy theories are spiraling catastrophically, pumping more exciting and elaborate crises — all serving as fodder for PPP news updates and new books. (See 2 Tim. 3:7.)

Not one of these contrived Martian civilization scenarios, purported Xenoarcheology evidence, nor Hollywood film plots can be supported with Scripture alone. That is why the authors must rewrite the Genesis record in a precarious effort to make their Martian myths and other false extraterrestrial teachings seem Biblical. They must also resort to conspiracy mongering to hide these facts while at the same distracting their audience with sensational and titillating fodder. While these worldly tactics may sell movies, books, and false ideas—and earn lots of profits—they turn the truth of God upside down (Romans 1:25). It gets worse. Much worse....

Mainstreaming Metaphysics into the Church Below is a photo showing David Flynn (left) with Dr. Michael Heiser (center) and Richard Hoagland (right) taken at the 2003 Ancient of Day’s Conference in Roswell, New Mexico[55]:

The text that accompanies this photo (Exhibit 5) states the connection to the Hermetic belief in “as above, so below” and connects this to the Mars fabrications:

David Flynn's book Cydonia: The Secret Chronicles of Mars has a different take on the masonic hermetic credo "As above, so below", discussing among other things, the beyond-coincidental re-occurrence of Sidonia/Cydonia references in ancient science and mythology. Richard Hoagland was among the first to read "Cydonia", and praised Flynn's research at the Roswell UFOs & the Bible conference in 2003 (with Mike Heiser & Hoagland, DVD lectures available…).

Richard Hoagland comments on Flynn research in COAST [to Coast radio] hour 3 saying: "David has found extraordinary evidence which he's laid out both in his presentation in Wisconsin and in his own book... okay, not only is there quite likely stuff on mars [sic], but that stuff was built by somebody who has some connection to us, somehow came here, somehow imbued our culture, our most ancient cultures, with their presence, their philosophy, their universal view, and left us with a legacy which demands we find out ultimately what it means."[56] [red, bold added]

Note that “as above, so below,” is also an integral part of the cosmogony[57] of Theosophy, and was written about in The Secret Doctrine by Madame Blavatsky.[58]

Hoagland’s inspiration includes astronaut Brian O’Leary, who was trained as a scientist but broke away into the New Age movement after remote viewing, near death and healing experiences. O'Leary's books Exploring Inner and Outer Space and The Second Coming of Science discuss UFOS, and “the face of Mars (popularized by Richard Hoagland), crop circles, near death experiences, reincarnation, healing, psychokinesis, mind over matter, Earth energies and the latest theories on physics and consciousness.”[59] Note: Many of the items on this occult list are also taught by the PPP leaders, which raises further disturbing questions about where they are getting their information.

6. Hoagland's God, Man, and E.T. Conference

In 2003, besides appearing together at the Ancient of Days conference in Roswell, NM, Hoagland, Heiser, and Flynn also teamed together with other “scholars, theologians, and philosophers” in Kenosha WI—for a conference called “God, Man, and E.T.: The Question of Other Worlds in Science, Theology and Mythology.” (Note the blasphemous graphic in the alien imagery above.) The speakers seriously explored the feasibility of “an ancient civilization on Mars.” Here is Hoagland’s description of what transpired:

After much discussion (especially re the overwhelming religious implications of such evidence…) we decided the research was mature enough (after over 20 years…) to gather a number of other scholars together—ranging from mainstream theologians to philosophers, and even a fundamentalist Christian mythologist [Flynn]!—and spend an entire day presenting to and discussing with each other… not only the very robust evidence now existing for “a former, ancient, ET civilization on the planet Mars… which may somehow be connected directly to the human race…”--but also the larger possibilities (and greater implications) surrounding the existence of past and/or present ET civilizations far beyond the solar system.[60] [bold, red added]

Note Hoagland’s reference to Flynn as “a fundamentalist Christian mythologist.” This is an oxymoron! He can either be either a fundamentalist Christian or a mythologist (i.e., “an expert in mythology”)[61], but not both. Mythology is idolatry according to Scripture (Acts 17:16, e.g.). Here is how Flynn is listed in an ad for the 6-DVD set of the God, Man & ET conference:

Christianity is totally incompatible with “occult mythology and zodiacal and processional phenomena (astrology)”—which the Bible declares are forbidden realms to the Christian (Deut. 18:10-12; 29:29; Isa. 47:12-14; 1 Tim. 1:4; 2 Tim. 4:4). Sadly, Flynn, also a Gap Theory proponent, could have only become an “expert” in such strange “anomalies” by departing from the Scripture and devoting himself to the study of arcane and occult phenomena—themes which have permeated his writings and pollute the Word of God.[63]

These PPP teachers admit that they are going outside of Scripture for their source material. They are borrowing heavily from some of the blackest occult sources. In fact, one of the most important aspects of widening the Gap in the Gap Theory is the subtle synthesis of Theosophy (and other evolutionary occult religions) with Christianity. This synthesis permits a new eschatology to be birthed, one which is perfectly compatible with all of the world religions. While protesting to be biblical, the PPP teachers add in pseudoscience, metaphysics—specifically the cosmology of Theosophy.

Theosophy & the Martians In an article subtitled “The Pyramids of Mars and Egypt Linked?” Doug Woodward, a leading PPP teacher, cleverly asked provocative questions concerning the beliefs of Richard Hoagland. He challenges the biblical worldview by suggesting there are connections between Mars, the Egyptian pyramids and a pre-Adamic race.

At stake for those who hold to the Biblical worldview is simply this: if intelligent life could be discovered on Mars, what would it infer about how life originated on earth? Was life here seeded by Martians? Or is the reverse true? Did an ancient race (perhaps a civilization destroyed at least 12,000 years ago) achieve vast knowledge of the cosmos, travel to Mars, and seed life there? Is this the connection to the Egyptian pyramids and the ‘City’ on Mars? Would the Bible allow that a pre-Adamic race once existed prior to Genesis 1:2 and was responsible for the signs of ancient civilization on earth and Mars? [64][bold and color added]

Relying heavily upon NASA coverup conspiracies, Woodword also discusses Hoagland’s assertion that “Cydonia is linked with the civilizations of ancient Egypt.”[65] Where did Hoagland get his ideas? One obvious answer is that this Mars-Egypt connection can be found in Theosophy’s cosmology—that even teaches about the return of Nephilim![66] One of the leading early Theosophists, C.W. Leadbeater, wrote prolifically about “Mars & Its Inhabitants,” stating that it evolved in a manner similar to earth and that “Martian history in the remote past was not unlike our own.” He claimed:

The great system of canals which has been observed by terrestrial astronomers was constructed by the second order of moon-men when they last occupied the planet….

On every hand one sees signs of a very old civilization, for the inhabitants have preserved the tradition of all that was known when the great life-wave of humanity occupied the planet….[67] [Bold added]

Leadbeater believed that the Martians “joined themselves together in a secret brotherhood” and existed in a “superphysical” world (what the modern PPP advocates refer to as hyperdimensional physics). These Martians, said Leadbeater, “took up the study of mesmerism and spiritualism, and many of them developed a good deal of power.”

Some at least of the members of the secret society have learnt how to cross without great difficulty the space which separates us from Mars, and have therefore at various times tried to manifest themselves through mediums at spiritualist seances, or have been able, by the methods which they have learnt, to impress their ideas upon poets and novelists.[69][bold added]

Leadbeater further claimed that his observations were based on “inquiry and during various visits to the planet.”[69] Note that he actually says he visited Mars! Leadbeater was a very unsavory character who engaged in pederasty, and who was very high up in Theosophy leadership with Helena Petrovna Blavatsky. He and Annie Besant “reputedly made ‘...occult investigations together into the cosmos, the beginnings of mankind, chemistry and the constitution of the elements, as well as frequently visiting the Masters together in their astral bodies’.”[70]

Leadbeater, like many of the other Theosophists at his time, claimed clairvoyant and psychic abilities, including the ability to engage in celestial travel and receive channeled transmissions from higher beings. This is how he says he obtained his information for his book “The Inner Life, in which he wrote that there is a population of human-like beings on the planet Mars.” In fact, much of the information about these arcane landforms on Mars come via occult channeled transmissions. That doesn't appear to stop the PPP leaders from using this information and treating it as though it were a credible source of factual information. Again, pseudoscience and metaphysics blend together.

It is therefore disturbing that PPP leader Woodward, in his discussion of Cydonia on Mars, refers to the psychic techniques “remote viewing” and “astral projection”:

Indeed, perhaps the greatest support for the ancient existence of Martian intelligence comes from the military’s remote viewers who frequently visit Mars, vis-a-vis via astral projection, confounded by what they ‘see’. If the reader regards their witness as worthy evidence, Hoagland’s Martian theory becomes especially compelling.[72] [Bold added]

Note the suggestive “IF the reader…” phrase. But even if these accounts are not true, then there is always conspiracy theory and secret hidden coded information to fall back on for evidence. Woodward implies an unseen hand orchestrating “intention”:

On the other hand, although Hoagland’s Martian theory is extreme in the author’s opinion, his conspiracy theory (that NASA has since inception chosen arcane flight times and landing locations on the moon and Mars – an agenda influenced by Nazi and Freemason connections within NASA) aka his ‘ritual alignment model’, appears substantiated by repeating ‘coincidences’. In other words, a pattern of repeating ‘synchronicities’ seen in historical events strongly suggests we are dealing with intention and not coincidence.[73] [bold added]

One of the foonotes in Woodward’s article references James Hurtak:

an assistant to Andrija Puharich when The Nine was getting revved up in the 1950s, has become a leading authority on the connections between Mars and Egypt. Prior to the photographic evidence for a face on Mars, Hurtak remote viewed the face, declaring its presence and evidence for intelligent life on the Red Planet.[73] [bold added]

What are “The Nines”? According to a May 27, 2012 San Jose Mercury News article, it is “a reference to the so-called nine extraterrestrials from the star Sirius that British psychic Jenny O’Connor said she ‘channeled.’”[75] And who is Hurtak? A later proponent of the same theosophical theories about the connection between Mars and Egypt, described as a “Social scientist, futurist and remote sensing specialist.”[76] Here is yet another man who claims psychic abilities for remote viewing of extraterrestrials on other planets. He referenced the Enoch theories early on, even claiming a visitation from Enoch! This raises more unsettling questions. To what extent have his writings influenced the postmodern prophecy teachers?

Dr. Hurtak is best known for his book published in the early 1970s entitled The Book of Knowledge: The Keys of Enoch where he claimed to receive knowledge from a visitation from Enoch, where he pointed out the apparently unusual relationship of the star shafts in the Great Pyramid with the "Belt" of Orion, and where he claims that pyramids were built on Mars for artificial intelligences to gather intelligence.[77] [bold mine]

Following the rabbit trails in researching the roots of these strange and unbiblical PPP teachings about Mars leads into some very dark, scary and sinister places. We seldom, if ever, find any references about Jesus Christ and His Saving Grace for lost souls in any of this horrid material. Where is Jesus? Where is mention of his glorious Second Coming? Where are the calls to share the Gospel before He returns in judgment? This flagrant omission (or demotion in emphasis) should be a huge red flag.

Cultivating A Cosmic WorldviewThere seems to be another agenda at work in the PPP emerging prophecies—shifting your worldview. L.A. Marzulli, introducing himself as “a Sci-Fi writer” while talking about the images on the Martian landscape, concludes:

The implications are clear, intelligent life, perhaps from a civilization that existed long ago, is responsible for the artifact…[78] [bold added]

But then Marzulli goes on to ask the key questions—questions that we find over and over again in the PPP literature (including many examples in the quotes in this article)— questions that are designed to change your worldview, to raise those niggling doubts about your endtime eschatology and your faith:

The site is one of many that deal with the possibility of alien artifacts being found on the Martian surface. How would such a discovery affect you? How would it change or reshape your world view? If you are a religious person, would this challenge your belief system?[79] [bold added]

So that’s what this is all about! Changing our belief system and worldview. Believers beware!

The Truth: The Ever-Expanding GapAs has been demonstrated in this article, the Gap Theory has become so broad, so wide, that these teachers are driving every sort of heresy through its broad way opening. The emerging eschatology versions of the expanded Gap Theory accommodates all sorts of wild suppositions regarding Satan’s fall, the Watchers, the Nephilim, and elaborate speculations about an alien outpost on the planet Mars. None one of these things, however, are found in the Scriptures. These teachings can, however, be found in Theosophical and occult religions.
Metaphysics, pseudoscience and wild unprovable conspiracy theories are being poured into the ever-widening chasm of The Gap at an accelerating rate. These heresies are pouring through the Gap and coming into the church like a flood.

The Postmodern Prophecy Paradigm (PPP) teachers rely on their “secret opinions” and “hidden meanings” to build their case that there is a scary emerging eschatology for the church world, one that focuses more on space aliens than Jesus Christ and His salvation for a lost world. They give equal prominence to their extrabiblical sources, believing that these additional teachings are revealing hidden things in God's Word. But we don't need to run to the occult to get spiritual answers. Since when are demonic channelings truthful sources of information?!

The questions then become quite obvious: How far can the Gap Theory expand to accommodate all of this extrabiblical metaphysics and pseudoscience yet still retain its former respectability? How far are evangelical leaders willing to go in tolerating this extreme sort of heresy? When is it time to biblically separate from these PPP teachers, deeming them false, and warning others?

Unhindered and unopposed, these PPP leaders will continue their speculations to bizarre extremes. 1 Timothy 6:4 uses the words “evil surmisings” which seems illustrative of the zany speculations and conspiratorial conjectures engaged in continually by PPP teachers. What are evil surmisings? The Greek indicates:

hyponoeŒoµ, hypoŒnoia. The verb means "to think in secret," "to suspect," or, more generally, "to conjecture." In the NT only Acts uses it, and with no theological significance. It means "to suppose" in 13:25, "to suspect" in 27:18, and "to conjecture" in 27:27. The noun has such senses as "secret opinion," "conjecture," "illusion," and "hidden meaning" (e.g., of metaphors or allegories). In 1 Tim. 6:4, which depicts the liking of false teachers for wars of words, the reference is to the wicked suspicions or insinuations with which they try to discredit those who oppose them.[80] [bold added]

The Bible has a strong word of advice for those who find themselves under the corrupt teachers who engage in endtime evil surmisings:

If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness; He is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions and strifes of words, whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings, Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness: from such withdraw thyself.

About Me

Check your daily "HERESCOPE." Herescope is an online journal revealing heresies and false teachings affecting the church today. Copyright 2005-2017 held by the author, IRG, Inc., or Discernment Ministries, Inc. unless otherwise noted. Herescope is a term coined by Lynn Leslie literally meaning "scoping out a heresy." Herescope began as a regular magazine column in The Christian Conscience magazine published during 1995-1998 by IRG, Inc. The Discernment Research Group is an ad hoc fellowship of Christian researchers with roots dating back to 1985. For more articles, books, and newsletters go to http://www.discernment-ministries.org.